


What Does Nick Valentine Look Like?

by NervousAsexual



Series: Whumptober 2020 [26]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Blind Character, Blindness, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Present Tense, Self-Esteem Issues, Siblings, also for once I capitalized DiMA's name properly, some degree of emotional hurt/comfort, that will probably never happen again, the nervousasexual? projecting on to nick valentine? it's more likely than you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27216544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAsexual/pseuds/NervousAsexual
Summary: Physically unable to see his long-lost brother, DiMA enlists others to create a better picture.
Relationships: DiMA & Nick Valentine
Series: Whumptober 2020 [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960987
Kudos: 19
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	What Does Nick Valentine Look Like?

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober prompt #26--blindness

DiMA asks Faraday first.

"Why does it matter?" Faraday asks.

"It does not matter. I would like to know anyway."

Faraday sighs a high, nasally sigh. "Hmm. I suppose Valentine looks very much like you did, or any other Gen II synth, for that matter. The skin has weathered a bit--more grey now than beige. Damage to the temporo-mandibular area on both sides, which ordinarily would suggest normal wear and tear, similar to yours, but the edges are not as even or as smooth. I would guess some sort of chemical damage. Plasma, maybe. Also some damage to the right hand, but I can't speculate on the cause without access to his forearm. The left hand is still fairly intact. I noticed that when he walked in--his hands have a wear pattern that is almost exactly the opposite of yours. He must not be ambidextrous the way you are. Maybe the pre-existing personality overrides that ability."

DiMA makes note of this, and then he asks Chase.

"What about him?" Chase asks, her voice toneless and clear. "He looks like you but without all the modifications. Six foot, maybe, without the hat. Never seen him without the hat. Holes all over him. Dresses like he fell out of some detective-themed pre-war film noir. Trenchcoat, fedora, nice shoes and tie. Walks like he knows how to use his gun. That sort of thing. Is that what you want to know?"

DiMA thanks her, and then he asks Nora.

Nora hums thoughtfully. "Nick looks like... he looks a lot like you. His eyes are yellow, though. If it's dark out you can see them glowing. He doesn't have the... what are those, cathode rays? None of the external stuff. He dresses like a private eye in the movies, which except for the movie part he actually is. He always talks like he's ugly or scary-looking, but he's really not. He looks like he gives great hugs."

Upon further questioning she admits that yes, he did hug her exactly once, and yes, it was in fact a great hug.

"I hope that helps," she says. "Are you not able to see at all?"

DiMA explains that he cannot. Before he met Faraday he used to do all his own repairs, which made it difficult to do work on his optical systems. It's taken too much damage over the years and is beyond repair. But it's quite alright. After he asked Faraday removed the defunct system and added more storage. There's something poetic about that--he's unable to look outward, but that inability improves his ability to look inward, if that makes sense.

Nora says that it does, in a way, and it doesn't, in another way, but if it makes sense to DiMA isn't that the important thing?

This is true. DiMA takes note, thanks her, and finally asks Nick. What does he look like?

"Like a wreck," Nick says.

"That is not an answer."

"Alright. Like a wreck of a synth."

"Brother..."

"What? You asked what I looked like and I told you."

DiMA considers this. "Is that truly how you see yourself?"

There is a moment of silence before Nick asks suspiciously, "Why do you want to know what I look like?"

"It has been over a century since we went our separate ways. The image I have of you in my mind is undoubtedly dated at best. I would like to know you as you are now."

"But why? What exactly do you get out of all this? You act like you know me, but you don't know me. I'm as strange to you as you are to me. Whoever or whatever your 'brother' was, he's gone now. All that's left is me."

He had known who Nick was the instant he'd entered the room. There was--is--a frequency the two have always shared, a specific current of energy that he left behind one hundred years ago and never imagined he would feel again. DiMA had felt so many things when he felt that frequency--joy, sadness, excitement, fear. Is that not enough?

"You're feeling all that for somebody who doesn't exist anymore. I just don't get why I matter when it's your brother you're looking for."

"And I found him," DiMA tells him. "I was fortunate to have known you before. How incredibly lucky must I be to get to know you twice?"

Nick does not respond for a moment. "Yeah, well. I still think I got a better chance if you think I look like whatever it is you've got in your head."

"I have asked others to describe you. I know very well that you do not look like that any longer."

"Then why would you ask... You know what? No. I don't want to know."

"The others have given me an idea of what you must look like, but it would not be a complete picture without you in it."

DiMA wonders if Nick can feel it, too--the frequency. Perhaps its importance hasn't even occurred to him.

"Will you tell me what you look like, brother?"

Nick does.


End file.
